Peak Bird (“Ptitza”) is a boundary summit of one of the central Ergaki ridge. Shape of the mount has so much in common with an outline of a giant bird that one doesn’t even need fertile imagination to see a sitting she-eagle spreading her wings. With them, as the old legend says, she covers her nestlings, guarding them from evil, and keeping a wary eye on the vicinage.
In the same place, in Ergaki, there is a remarkable rock. It has a form of a parabola. Its vertical faces, slashed with temporary watercourses, are about 500m high. The rock is called Brothers. It looks just as two brothers with joined hands, what forms an ideal parabolic surface. Gracile Younger brother bends forward to massive Elder brother with his crest, trenchant as a blade. In the ravine from the Younger brother side is an emerald mountain lake. It has a shape of a rectangle (nearly a square) with rounded off corners and its origin is wrapped in mystery. It’s called “Lake of mountain spirits”. Ancient legend says that those spirits bewitched two brothers and left them in that place to guard the fabulous wealth.
The rock “Dragon tooth” is one more sight of the region. It really looks like a giant fang of some beast of prey, which sticks out the jaws between the other teeth. One of the faces of this peak is an overhanging wall 1000m high, what is a terrible and almost insuperable ordeal for all climbers, who come here to put themselves against these rocks.
Peak Starry (“Zvezdny”) is the mount of the same ridge, adjacent with Bird. The altitude of its summit is 2265m. Its sharp thin crest is seen on the right photo. Starry resembles a great ocean liner, which furrow the spanless sea of taiga with its stem. Some faces are not too difficult for ascending (moderate 2 or 3 Russian grade), others are abrupt vertical walls of extreme 5 and 6 Russian Grade. Climbers and alpinists from all the country come here to do their practice.
Afar off, on the very horizon, there is seen a range of ragged cliffs, which looks like a giant, lying on his back. This is exactly the famed in legends massif “Sleeping Sayan”. You see a proud profile of Red Indian chief; his long straight hairs come down from the head and his hands, calm and majestic, rest on the chest. This picture is a symbol of Siberian mountains. Ancient legend says, “Sleeping Sayan keeps his treasures for people, obeying the wills of gods”.
“Hanging rock” may be called an extraordinary sight of Sayan. Its title is not occasional; the point is that it’s really a huge rock that stands on the very edge, overhanging under “Rainbow” lake. If one looks at it from the bottom (from the lake shore), he is under impression that just now this stone will rush down and fall with a terrible roar. Actually, it isn’t so. Mass stone is no more than detritus of granite-syenite rock, which weight not less than 10 tons and is about 30 cubic metres in volume. Near this monster, one sees all imperfection of human being compared with this mass and huge pillar of nature.
“Devil” rock is called so as its shape resembles a devil head. It’s apparent especially in the evening.